EU Finalizes GDPR Blockchain Rules: Encrypted Data Is Still Personal…

The EU's data protection board has finalised GDPR compliance rules for blockchain, stating that encrypted and hashed data remain personal data subject to full GDPR rights including erasure — making public permissionless blockchains incompatible with EU data regulation. Technical impossibility of deletion is not a valid exemption from GDPR obligations. If you've built on public Ethereum or Bitcoin assuming encryption buys you out of GDPR, you're now exposed: the EU just ruled that encrypted data is personal data, erasure rights apply anyway, and technical impossibility isn't a defence. You either move to a private chain with named controllers, strip personal data entirely, or stop serving EU users.